Since this is the week of the pipe dream, what with a sequel to Wasteland being funded and a release date for Diablo III finally being made official, now is as good a time as any for some juicy rumors to be floated. Aside from talk of HD re-releases of both Shenmue games and Skies of Arcadia (a subject for another article), it?s being reported than an Elder Scrolls MMO is not only in development, but it will also be getting an official announcement fairly soon.
The game, known as Elder Scrolls Online, will be announced at some point in May according to a report by Tom?s Guide. Sources provided very little information about the game except to say there will be three playable factions (represented by a lion, dragon, and either a phoenix or eagle) and that it is set approximately 1,000 years before Skyrim. That period would also predate the events of Morrowind and Oblivion.
This is not the first time there has been talk of an Elder Scrolls MMO. Even before Skyrim was announced, there was speculation that the next game in the series following Oblivion could take on the form of an MMO. On more than one occasion the concept was not entirely shot down by Bethesda. The company also owns a number of domain names that would be perfectly suited to an MMO, but of course simply acquiring domains means nothing.
What makes this much more believable is what was revealed in court filings in the case between Bethesda and Interplay over the rights to a Fallout MMO. (The case was settled earlier this year.) Bethesda was said to be working on a ?World of Warcraft type MMO? since late 2006, and VG247 later reported it had been told it was, in fact, the long-rumored Elder Scrolls MMO. When the court documents became public knowledge Bethesda attempted to have them withdrawn, though it was obviously too late to avoid having news leak.
So while none of this is a confirmation, it?s looking more likely than ever that the franchise will not remain single-player-only. Considering what the reaction was to Mass Effect 3 adding an optional, cooperative multiplayer mode, this is going to incite fans even more than that did.
The two situations are different, as Mass Effect simply saw a multiplayer mode added onto a previously single-player franchise whereas the TES MMO would presumably be multiplayer-only after a long history of providing solo experiences. But given Bethesda did deliver Skyrim last year and is continuing to update it (including features seen in the Game Jam sizzle, like new kill cams), it?s not as if Bethesda decided to abandon its single-player game fans so it could release an MMO. (Just a thought: the MMO being in development could have helped fuel the decision not to integrate any sort of cooperative play in Skyrim, which some fans were hoping to see.)
Many fans are sure to be turned off by an MMO, just as many Mass Effect fans were by the addition of multiplayer, but I imagine not all of them will be. Using such a popular single-player RPG franchise as the basis for an MMO could be an effective way of luring in gamers who would otherwise never consider touching the genre. It may not be Call of Duty, but the Elder Scrolls is really big ? in less than a month Skyrim shipped 10 million units and took the title of fastest-selling game in Steam history. And since launch it has continued to be among the best-selling games in the United States according to the NPD Group.
Bethesda is already quite accomplished at developing massive worlds for players to explore and interact with. Making an MMO won?t be as simple as increasing the size of the world and throwing a bunch of players into it all at once, but Bethesda has a strong built-in fan base and a lot of experience settings gamers loose in a wide-open world, two things that any company looking to release an MMO would love to have.
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